When designing and placing banner ads consider the following to ensure the most exposure and the best results.
Visual Changes
Make sure your banner is visible. If it contains small fonts, and low contrast colors it will blend in to your existing page. When you make these changes be sure that you choose colors that go well together, but also fit within your branding.
You can do this by enlarging fonts and either a darker background and bolder lettering or a lighter background with darker lettering.
Clear Message
Making visual changes will help a potential click see the ad, but it’s just as important to make sure it’s relevant and clear.
Lead with something that is important to the target audience. If you are trying to appeal to divers then lead with something along the lines of “Ever been stung by a jellyfish? You have to try the Sun and Sting Relief gel!” This may be more likely to get someone to click the banner then if it just mentions the brand you are working with.
Placement
Studies have reported that consumers become immune to many ads on websites because we see so many of them everytime we open the computer. It is more likely that advertisement will be noticed and not ignored if they are places between content on the website. For example, instead of placing the banners along the side or at the top of the page place it in between a break in an article.
This might throw off the reader slightly and they are more inclined to read what the banner is telling them. If you don’t know what part of your website is most visited there are tools called heatmaps, like Hotjar, to help determine this and how to place accordingly.
By making a few simple changes you can increase the way people see the banner ads on your website which will lead to more clicks.
However, this may have to be a trial and error process, with several rounds of A/B testing to see what works best for conversion.
